Book reviews and other bookish things. Ideally I would post at least the title of each book I complete, but apparently even that is too much work. I'll do my best.

Friday, November 2, 2007

Cold Mountain

A kind of modern Odyssey, we see one main character making his way home and experiencing or escaping all sorts of adventures. Another main character learns patience and how to live in her world. Time and place are evoked in a very compelling way. Set in the closing days of the civil war, so there is plenty of violence here as well, both from self defense and from senseless lashing out. I was especially moved by the descriptions of Ada developing from a helpless girl to a self-reliant woman, learning to take control of her life and shape it to meet her needs instead of pining away when she found herself on her own.